Stories That Are Handled With Kid Gloves

Get ready to pull the covers over your head. It’s time for Halloween--and all its spooky, scary and ghost-filled incarnations.

For spine-tingling stories sure to thrill Halloween storytellers everywhere, there’s Alvin Schwartz’s “Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones,� with black-and-white drawings by illustrator Stephen Gammell.

Schwartz, author of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark� and “More Scary Stories,� has included 25 new stories in this collection (HarperCollins, $13.95, ages 9 and up). The stories are collected from folklore and retold by Schwartz.

“Weird! The Complete Book of Halloween Words� by Peter R. Limburg with pictures by Betsy Lewin contains detailed explanations of the meaning of such words as Halloween, trick or treat, ghost and goblin. It also contains Halloween-related superstitions, “frightening facts� and a time line that begins in 4,500 B.C. and ends in 1980, the year the movie “Friday the 13th� was released (Avon Books, $3.50).

Also for older readers: “Most Ghostly: Eight Spooky Tales to Chill Your Bones,� adapted by Steven Zorn, with full-color illustrations by John Bradley (Running Press, $9.98, all ages).

For Younger Readers

“The Best Cat Suit of All,� by Sylvia Cassedy with pictures by Rosekrans Hoffman, is the story of a little boy named Matthew who has moved to a new town (Dial Books for Young Readers, $10.95, ages 7-8).

Being in a new place for Halloween is bad enough. But Matthew has a cold and can’t go out trick or treating. Matthew loves dressing up as a black cat for Halloween. And he also loves getting lots of candy (but not “good� things to eat like apples and raisins so your teeth won’t rot out).

It’s the worst Halloween ever--until a final Halloween visitor comes to the door and makes everything in Matthew’s world right again.

Books About Witches

Susan Meddaugh’s “Witches’ Supermarket� takes readers on a shopping trip to a witches-only supermarket. The store is filled with poison apples, gobs of lizard gizzards and boxes of bug bars. Unfortunately, the witches discover the costumed Helen and her dog, Martha, as the two make their way through the store. Luckily, a handy Halloween broomstick saves the day. (Houghton-Mifflin, $13.95, ages 4 to 8).

* “Witch Hazel,� by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Margot Tomes. A young boy uses a witch hazel branch to make a scarecrow and has a mysterious encounter on the night of the harvest moon (HarperCollins, $14.95, ages 5 to 9).

* “The Big Stew,� written and illustrated by Ben Shecter. A farm couple get carried away making a big stew and are slowing transformed into a couple of witches. And back again (HarperCollins, $14.95, ages 3 to 7).

Other Books

* “Knock! Knock!� by Jacqui Hawkins, illustrated by Colin Hawkins. A lift-the-flap joke book featuring a haunted castle full of ghosts and ghoulies (Aladdin, $14.95, all ages).

* “M & M and the Halloween Monster� by Pat Ross, with illustrations by Marilyn Hafner. Scary things start to happen as friends Mimi and Mandy get ready for Halloween (Viking, $10.95, ages 7 to 10).

* “Halloween Masks,� illustrated by Anthony Rao. Cutout masks with the faces of an owl, black cat, witch, skeleton, king and queen (Random House, $3.99, ages 4 to 8).

* “One-Minute Scary Stories,� written and adapted by Shari Lewis and Lan O’Kun, illustrated by Pat and Robin DeWitt. Contains 20 original and previously published stories including “The Monkey’s Paw� and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow� (Delacorte Press-Doubleday Books for Young Readers, $10, ages 4 to 8).

* “A Very Scary Jack’-O-Lantern� and “A Very Scary Haunted House,� both written by Joanne Barkan and illustrated by Jodie Wheeler. Halloween tales featuring glow-in-the-dark pictures (Scholastic-Cartwheel, $3.95 each, ages 4 to 7).

* “The Berenstain Bears’ Trick or Treat,� written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The Bear kids share a not-too-spooky Halloween adventure. (Random House paperback and cassette series, $6, ages 3 to 7).

Reprints

* There is always the fear, as your trick-or-treat bag fills up, that some bullies will come along and steal your goodies. In “How Spider Saved Halloween� by Robert Kraus and “Dinosaurs’ Halloween� by Liza Donnelly, the bullies are conquered. (Scholastic, $2.50 each, ages 5 to 8).

* Clifford, the big red dog, can’t decide on his Halloween costume. Should he go as a devil? A clown? Or maybe a witch? It’s a big decision, one that children--and their parents--grapple with each year. “Clifford’s Halloween,� with stories and pictures by Norman Bridwell, addresses this dilemma with humor (Scholastic, $2.50, ages 4 to 8).

* Also of interest: “The Biggest Pumpkin Ever� by Steven Kroll and illustrated by Jeni Bassett (Scholastic, $2.50, for ages 4 to 8) and Norman Bridwell’s “The Witch Next Door� and “The Witch Grows Up� (Scholastic, $2.50 each, ages 4 to 8).